Practical Magic
by RebelAngel15
Summary: "I thought you never wanted to fall in love," Nudge said. "That's the point," I said. "The guy I dreamed up doesn't exist, and if he doesn't exist, I'll never die of a broken heart."


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"For more than two hundred years, we Ride women have been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong in this town," said Aunt Elena. Monique and I looked up at our aunt.

"Is that why people hate us so much, Aunt Elena?" asked Monique.

"They don't hate us, sweetheart. We just…make them a little bit nervous," soothed Aunt Donna.

"Let's face it, Donna. We Ride women have always created a stir. It all began with your ancestor, Rose. She was a witch; the first in our family. And you my darlings are the most recent in a long and distinguished line."

"Is that why they wanted to hang her? Because she was a witch?" I asked.

"Well, the fact that Rose was a bit of a heartbreaker didn't help. Nor did it help that most of her lovers had wives on the hanging committee. But no, I don't think it was any of those reasons. They feared her because she had a gift. A power that has been passed on to you children. She had the gift of magic. And it was this very gift that saved her life. She was banished to this very island, with her unborn child, growing inside her belly. She waited for her lover to rescue her. But he never came. No one came."

"In a moment of despair, she cast a spell upon herself that she would never again feel the agony of love. But as her bitterness grew, the spell, turned into a curse. A curse on any man who dared to love a Ride woman."

"So is that why daddy died? Because of the curse?" I asked quietly, thinking of my parents. Valencia and Jeb had been their names.

"Your mother knew," said Aunt Elena. "She heard the beetle ticking for your father's death all day long. She knew that when you heard the sound of the death watch beetle, the man you love, is doomed to die."

"But that's how you came to live with us," said Aunt Donna with a warm smile. "We tucked you into our life then we've raised you the best way we know how."

I had a sudden flashback to the time when Monique and I had first come to live with the Aunts. We had been wearing matching black coats, and our hair had been in two braids. I could even remember Aunt Elena taking our suitcases and saying, "In this house, we have chocolate cake for breakfast. And we never bother with silly little things like bedtime or brushing our teeth."

Aunt Donna's voice drew me back to the present.

"But with the sweets, comes the sours."

"So when you find yourself the center of attention, it's not that they hate you. It's that, well…we're different."

Another flashback came to me. It was Monique and me. We were running through a field when we suddenly found a crowd of girls on the other side of the property fence.

"Hey, you want to play?" Nudge had said (Nudge being the nickname we called Monique). But the girls had only glared at us before calling us a witch and throwing stones at us. One had hit Nudge in the head.

"Nudge, Max," said Aunt Donna in her whispery voice. We were sitting outside, eating breakfast. "You know the only curse on this family? Sitting right down there at the end of the table, your Aunt Elena."

Nudge and I giggled.

"Oh Donna, even you have to admit," said Aunt Elena. "That any man who gets involved with a Ride woman is bound to end six feet under."

"Spare me."

"What about my poor Justin?"

"It was an accident."

"It was fate."

"It was an accident."

"No, no, no, it was fate."

"Accident!"

"It was fate!"

I looked at them unsurely while Nudge smiled with obvious amusement.

"Mom died of a broken heart, didn't she?" I asked. Nudge stopped smiling immediately, looking between the Aunts. Nudge was a year younger than me and missed mom and dad just as much as I do.

Aunt Elena looked at me with an expression of sadness and pity.

"Yes, my darling girl, she did."

It was silent for a moment before Aunt Donna looked at me.

"Hey," she said. "My little witch. Let's go inside and do some spells."

I smiled innocently.

"What about my homework?" I asked.

"Oh pish, tosh!" said Aunt Elena as she got up. "Both of you will learn things in this house that you will never learn in school."

Later that night, Nudge and me were both wearing angel gowns. But we had gotten rid of the fake wings that had come with the costume, instead having our own real wings. Aunt Donna had said we were extra special because we had wings. Mine were tan and cream colored, while Nudge's were tawny brown that matched her mocha colored skin.

I looked at my spell book, and then blew on the candle wick. With a spurt, it caught fire.

"Very good Max," praised Aunt Donna. "You know you've been blessed with a gift."

Nudge looked at Aunt Donna from where she was crouching on top of the table.

"What about me?" she asked.

"Oh we don't worry about you, Nudge," said Aunt Elena. "Your talents will emerge in time."

We suddenly heard knocking. I stopped eating my chocolate cookie, confused. Not many people had the courage to come to our front door and knock.

"Nudge, Max, just stay right there," instructed Aunt Elena as she and Aunt Donna got up. "Just keep working on your spells."

"C'mon Nudge," I said tugging my younger sister down from the table. "Let's go see what's happening."

"But Aunt Elena said we should practice our spells," protested Nudge, her long brown corkscrew curls in a low ponytail.

"We're just going to see who it is and what they want," I assured Nudge before dragging her to the stairs. We sat on the steps where we could see what was going on. There was woman there and the spell book was open. The woman looked to be in hysterics or something.

"I want so much, I don't think of anything else, I don't sleep," the woman's voice was strangled. "He has to leave his wife, he has to leave her now."

"Perhaps you might find someone better suited," said Aunt Donna.

"I don't want anybody else!" the woman said. "He's all I think about…why the hell else would I come here?"

"Take the money Donna," said Aunt Elena serenely, holding a bird in her hand. I watched the bird struggle in Aunt Elena's hands, wishing I could free it. Aunt Donna handed a long needle to the woman. Understand dawned, and I watched in horror as the woman leveled the needle to the bird's chest.

"I want him to want me so much that he can't stand it," the woman said before piercing the bird. I refused to cry and buried my head in Nudge's lap. I couldn't understand how anybody could do that to a bird, just because she wanted a man. Nudge started to stroke my dirty blond hair.

"Be careful what you wish for," said Aunt Donna.

"I hope I never fall in love, I hope I never fall in love," I whispered, shaking my head.

"I can't wait to fall in love," Nudge said dreamily.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"He will hear my call a mile away," I said, reading out of my notebook. "The whistle, his favorite song. He can ride the wind currents backwards."

A plucked three flower petals, putting them in the wooden bowl I had under my arm. I heard Nudge behind me.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Summoning up a true love spell, called Amas Fenitas," I responded. "He can flip pancakes in the air," another petal in the bowl. "He'll be silent, but marvelously kind when he opens up. His favorite shape will be a star."

I walked around the greenhouse, collecting more petals and with Nudge following me.

"His eyes will be the darkest brown, like onyx," I said. "He'll have wings, just like us."

"I though you never wanted to fall in love," said Nudge.

"That's the point," I said. "They guy I dreamed up doesn't exist, and if he doesn't exist, I'll never die of a broken heart."

We stepped onto the balcony, side by side. I held out the bowl in front of me and concentrated hard. A wind swept past us, picking the petals and carrying them away.

And if he doesn't exist, I'll never die of a broken heart.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Max! Max!" I heard Nudge whisper yell. "Get the door!"

She ran into the room with a sack over her shoulder. She threw it off the balcony into the waiting arms of her boyfriend, Will.

"Wow," I said. I was beginning to think that Nudge had definitely rubbed off on me. Usually, I was the rebel. But right now, she was the one running away with her boyfriend, something I would never do.

"Max," Nudge panted. "You have no idea."

"Do you really love him? I mean, enough the run away with him?" I said, thinking it was stupid to run away with a guy. Nudge swung a leg over the railing of the balcony.

"Oh come on Max, I hate it here. I want to go where no ones even heard of us," said Nudge. I laughed dryly.

"I feel like I'm never going to see you again," I said.

"Of course you're going to see me again!" Nudge smiled brightly. "We're going to grow old together! It's going to be you and me, living in a big house with all these cats. And maybe a dog. Do you think the Aunts would let us get a dog? I think they would. I mean, they never cared too much if we brought frogs or rabbits back home, I don't think they'll mind a stray—"

I clapped my hand over Nudge's mouth to stop her from talking. Though she had gotten better at controlling her word spew, she could still talk anybody's ear off. Nudge peeled my fingers off her mouth.

"I mean, I bet we even die on the same day," Nudge finished. I looked at her calculatingly.

"You swear?" I asked. Nudge looked at me before turning to her boyfriend, who was still waiting.

"Honey, I need your pocketknife," she called down. Her boyfriend threw it up and Nudge caught it expertly.

"Look," she said. She cut a line on her palm, her face screwed in pain as she winced. "My blood." Then, she took my hand and also cut a gash. I didn't wince or cry out, not showing any sign of pain. "Your blood."

I gazed at my bleeding palm for a second before Nudge's and my hands met, clasped.

"Our blood," we breathed. I hugged her, hard.

"I love you Max," she said.

"Yeah," I said. "I love you too."

Nudge drew back, grinned once more before dropping to the ground. I watched as she left the garden, riding piggyback on her boyfriend's back. I waited until I couldn't hear Nudge's giggling before I let my wings unfurl through the slits in the white wife beater I was wearing.

I crouched on the railing for a second, gazing at the blood on my palm, before I took off.

I needed to fly.

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